When Jesus came to the disciples after Easter he said twice, "Peace be with you." At other times he told his followers not to be afraid. But this time it was peace he offered. When Jesus offers us peace we want to accept it. We want to possess it. We long to have it.

Jesus was offering peace to his disciples at an especially unpeaceful moment. His ragtag followers didn't know quite what to do with Jesus when he was living life as a man among men and women. Now that he was risen from the dead they really and truly had no idea what to make of him, much less how to respond. He offered peace.

This week's lessons

Society was extremely unsettled. There were huge divisions among the people. The ministry of Jesus was considered by some to be treasonous, by others treachery, by others heresy. Everyone was in a state of unrest. How could Jesus offer peace?

Peace was being offered to his followers by a man who had just been put to death by an angry and agitated mob that had been riled up by religious leaders who feared the message of love Jesus brought and manifested in the world. They hated Jesus and they feared his message. So they had him killed. And here he was offering peace. It seems ironic.

But anyone who had followed Jesus during his earthly ministry knew that Jesus was able to maintain a peaceful disposition in the midst of strife and turmoil of every kind. His answer to hatred, argument, rejection, anger, unfair accusation and pride was always the same. Peace.

His message resonates today as it always has, regardless of what issues or concerns roil our society or invade our lives. Peace is available to us in our souls at any time thanks to a loving God who sent Jesus to make it plain. It's up to us to locate that peace in ourselves, and to manifest it in our lives. It's up to us.

'In Service to God & You'

This week's helpers

EASTER SUNDAY 8AM

Server: Maria Bell

Lectors: Rose Marie Proctor

Cora Keith

Litanist: Pete Bedrossian

EASTER SUNDAY 10AM

Organist: Maris Kristapsons

Acolytes: Shawn Prater-Lee

Jordan Rosborough

Ben Rosborough

Lectors: Debbie Pitcher

Shawn Prater-Lee

Litanist: Mark Debald

Usher: Dewy Clarke

Mark Debald

Altar Guild: Joanna & Rose Marie

Greeters: Rose Marie Proctor

Alexis Plain

P A R I S H N E W S

Easter Celebration

St. Paul's children and some helping adults decorate the Easter cross.

The Easter anthem, composed by Maris Kristapsons and sung by our full choir

COMMUNITY NEWS

Note:

Please visit the DCIC website (www.dutchesscountyinterfaith.org) and our Facebook page for updates on these events and more.

Public Forum- Helping the Formerly Incarcerated through Faith-Based Initiatives

6pm-9pm

Catherine Street Community Center

(69 Catherine St, PK)

More info visit DCIC Website

APRIL

2 Jerry Bissessar 16 Elisabeth Misner

3 Adam Bissessar 19 Donna Robinson Zajkowski

6 Angelina Bissessar 20 Earl Boyer

Joyce Herman 21 Madison Goldson

7 Kira Curtis 23 Alice Darian

10 Madison Haley Hickman Adam Mazzuto

13 Brianna Bryant 25 Jahman Birks

14 Mahalia Samuels 29 Grace Porter

30 Michael Curtis

Jim Schneider

The Sunday Sermon

Our Risen Lord

SERMON: Easter B 4 1 18

Mark 16: 1-8

A holy, blessed and joyous Easter is upon us. We visit once again the scene of Jesus' Resurrection. We marvel at its draw for us, once again.

Here we are in church, in greater numbers than usual, observing a reality some of us have known our entire lives, others not so long. But we gather in faith and hope and, perhaps most of all, vast cheer, to learn again, as we have, some of us, seemingly countless times already, Jesus is risen.

Our need to know that Jesus again beat back death surmounts all the sadness and tragedy of Holy Week. What others tried to do to him, to extinguish his life in shame and horror, failed to quell the faithful, failed to stop our Lord and Savior. He rose from the dead!

And here we are again, together, celebrating this ancient miracle, this fulfillment of God's great promise to us, that God is with us in the form of Jesus, in the name of Emmanuel, and in the person of the Holy Spirit yet to come.

Here we are again. Finding out again that Jesus lives, doing it together as a congregation, celebrating this central fact of the Christian tradition. If we had wanted to we could have stayed home and reminded ourselves that we're pretty sure Jesus will be raised again this morning. But here we are and as far as I can see, we're pretty happy about it.

This is substantively more than a commemoration; we all know that. There's a lot that led up to Easter that more or less stays in the background on Easter. But still, we do commemorate the Resurrection of Christ and we celebrate our experience of it, year after year, and we do it together. This is an annual rite for us; it is for those who come only rarely as well as for those who are here every week and some even more so. We recognize this day, and Christmas, as no others.

Partly we do so because it is so much more. More drama. More reasons for celebrating. More people. More music. More horns. Yay!

Those assurances by Jesus in the Bible that he goes to prepare a place for us have just assumed new gravitas. Our hearts and our hopes are lifted. (In the 10 am service) Our joy mounts with each verse of the Easter hymns.

Verse one of our first hymn set the stage for the entire Easter celebration.

We celebrate this day of astonishing discovery each year using different lectionary readings. We are all present today even though today's Gospel does not relate as much detail as the others and it also leaves a taste of human shortcomings. The Gospel describes the women, frustrated in their intentions to embalm Jesus' body and frightened by the young man who appeared in angelic clothing to explain things to them.

They followed his directions, but with fear, not joy.

This begs the entire issue of what happened to the disciples. Where were they? And who moved the stone from the opening of the tomb?

The Gospel reading today from Mark is intriguing in its own way. It reminds us that the risen life of Christ our Savior continues. It continued then, in the shadow of horror and in the fear of persecution, it continues today in the life of those who live into their Baptismal Covenant.

The ending of the chapter is our last verse this morning. There were two alternate endings written after Mark dies. Their totally different style and their obvious attempt to clear up the looming questions that are left with the original ending tell us something truly important: Jesus life here and above continues. It continues in us and all other Christians and, as Jesus made clear, all those who choose to love their neighbor.

Yes, it seems inconclusive, unsatisfying, when looked at from a dramatic standpoint. But it's not. Because the final act is being played out in the lives of all of us and our fellow believers and followers of the precepts Jesus laid down.

The clear impression we are left with is that God is taking care of business, even rolling the stone, and that is exactly the message we need to receive on Easter.

Jesus' radical message of love is one that inspires and delights us and brings joy to our meager souls whenever we live it out. At the time it was too much for many, but the world has learned again and again that his is the true path that will get us where we need to go in this life and the next.

Look around you this morning. Let your joy show, your pleasure in this congregation, your delight at the reliable news delivered once again that Jesus Christ is risen today. Alleluia.

HYMN INFORMATION: "
Just as I Am, Without One Plea" was written in 1834 by English hymn writer Charlotte Elliott, and in an early version was published with the title "Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37). A few years earlier, Elliott had survived a serious illness that left her an invalid for life. One day, when overwhelmed by loneliness and despair, she pondered the phrase "Come to Christ just as you are," and then wrote this hymn. The hymn affirms that we need not worry about being "good enough" or "not good enough" to come to Jesus. We are assured that Jesus welcomes all who accept him.

THIS WEEK'S CALENDAR

April 2-8, 2018

MON 2 7:30am AA Meeting;

TUE 3 10am-2pm Office, Food Pantry, Small Blessings Thrift Shop;

WED 4 7:30am AA Meeting;

10am-2pm Office, Food Pantry, Small Blessings Thrift Shop;

12:15pm Healing Service w/ Eucharist;

THUR 5 10am-2pm Office, Food Pantry, Thrift Shop;

6pm Evening Prayer, Evangelism/ Outreach

FRI 6 7:30am AA meeting;

SAT 7 9am Mutual Study of Ministry;

SUN 8 8am Rite I

8:45am Lessons' Discussion

9:30am Choir practice;

10am Rite II

10am Sunday School;

11:15am Coffee Hour;

11:30am Youth

YOUR NEWS BELONGS IN ST. PAUL'S MESSENGER

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